UW explains dismissal of development officers

Laramie, Wy – Of the 45 people laid off by the University of Wyoming this week 12 were college and library development officers. The cuts were part of an 18 million dollars budget reduction at U-W. University Vice President Rick Miller, says the reason for the layoffs was due to the fact that these fundraising positions were scattered around the university. Miller says the plan is to create similar jobs under the umbrella of the U-W Foundation, which is the formal fundraising entity on campus."It's a matter of focus, effectiveness, efficiency, the notion is to consolidate a smaller cadre of folks working in a single office." Miller says the foundation has not decided how many fundraisers it will hire and he says there is no guarantee that any of the fired employees will be rehired. But Miller says the move consolidates fundraising efforts on campus and it means that the salaries of the employees will now come from the Foundation budget instead of U-W's.